Devin McCourty suffers rib injury

Patriots rookie cornerback Devin McCourty continued to build his quiet Defensive Rookie of the Year candidacy, but an injury to his rib could slow him down.

Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com notes that McCourty didn’t play after suffering the injury in the second quarter. The Patriots didn’t offer a lot of information about the injury after the game. (Shocker.)

Before he left, McCourty forced a fumble that was returned for a score and had a key pass breakup on third down to end a Bears drive. It’s hard to overstate how important McCourty now is to the Patriots defense.

There is a huge drop-off from him to the No. 2 cornerback (Kyle Arrington) on the team, much less McCourty’s backup Darius Butler.